Washington, Nov 8 : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s phone call to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday lasted for 20 minutes, the State Department has confirmed.

Musharraf’s spokesman, Major General (retired) Rashid Qureshi, told a foreign news agency that "nothing of any consequence" had been discussed.

Meanwhile, State Dept spokesman Sean McCormack said that he was unable to say how long the review of US assistance to Pakistan would take.

The ultimate goal, he explained, is to make sure that "anything that we do helps Pakistan get further down that road of building democratic institutions, down the pathway to democracy, down the pathway to further political and economic reform".

Earlier, Rice urged Musharraf to "return to a constitutional path" so that the general elections can be held in the country.

"We think that the best thing for Pakistan is to return to a constitutional path and then hold elections," the Daily Times quoted Rice, as saying.

"It is also true that President Musharraf said that he would take off his uniform and that would be an important step," she added. (ANI)